Knox's Red
by RedX'sGirl
Summary: Starfire goes to find X in order to clear her conscience but only finds herself more confused when she learns the truth. Rating just to be safe.
1. Resolving Pain and Unanswered Questions

Disclaimer- I don't the Titan Teens. If I did, Red X would have made another appearance by now and Star and Robin would be together.

**Knox's Red**

Chapter 1: Resolved Pain and Unanswered Questions

It's hard to change habits; this is something that Red X had learned a long time ago, the new lesson was that it was even harder to get the habits back. Even though letting go of his hero ways were hard, reverting back was much, much harder. He paced back and forth on his old wood floor in the apartment that he felt was haunted with ghost and memories of his past. He began to realize that it was worth it. **It was the only way to make her voice disappear and let her rest at least. **He lay down on his old cot that had been his bed for years and stared at the nearly caved in ceiling. **It was worth it, when it came right down to it, losing the belt, no matter how much of a loss that was, was worth the weight of the unresolved pain taken off my shoulders.**

**Well, the pain is still there but at least it's resolved, **Red X laughed as he amused himself with his own problems as he often did with other people's problems. It wasn't as fun, but it was important to take a look at yourself every once and a while. And laugh. Even if it hurt.

But as he sorted though his emotions he noticed that there was something else too. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was something that was beneath the layers of lifted guilt and lost love, something new. He rolled over and the cot creaked like a dying horse as tried to identify the feeling. Something that made him feel… light and happy but also sad and lost. He felt emotions that he no longer knew the name for. Emotions that had been lost since he saw his love fall into the pit of depression and despair and slowly dissolve. Something that he was glad but also saddened to have back. It confused him. He thought that he had made a shield to make sure he wouldn't be able to care or feel. He thought that he made sure that he had numbed himself from any feeling besides the excitement of sneaking. Feeling made him weak and what surprised him the most is he could not remember feeling feeling so nice. He could not figure out what was, but he had a feeling about how he ended up feeling it.

**I think it had something to do with a red-head. She had that glow to her like Knox had. She…what had they called her? Blaze…Stellar…Starfire. That was it. Her name fit her perfectly. She was as bright a star and had the fight of a blazing fire. She was the heart of the team. She is the fire of passion and fury that keeps them going as well as the light that makes their day bright. **He smirked as poetry came back into his thoughts after so many years had left his old poems to catch cobwebs. **It's been a long time since I felt this way. And yet, it's too soon. **He did not want to be a lover boy. Being a player was much easier. It was easier to not love them and leave them, or whatever the saying was. **I guess old Murphy was right. **Red X said with a smirk as he rolled out of bed to get a glass of water and a fresh look at these new things. **"Whatever can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible time." And it is the worst possible time. I was starting to finally enjoy life again. **

**X**

"What's wrong Starfire?" Raven asked as she sank onto her bed from her seat in the air, her normally emotionless voice had a note of worry. Starfire had accidentally walked into Raven's room with a confused look on her face…well, more confused than normal.

She tried to hide the concern, feeling that emotion was a weakness. Raven always hid emotion well and it was hardly detectable. If it had been anyone else the worry would have gone unnoticed, but Starfire knew her dark friend too well not to hear it. Raven normally would have felt ashamed and would yell at someone if caught her in one of her weak moments, but Starfire just smiled at the concern that the violet-haired friend rarely showed. This made Raven feel warm instead of weak.

"I am fine, my dear friend…and I am dearly sorry about entering your room without asking the permission." Raven smiled and offered her a sit on her bed. Starfire accepted by sitting down cross-legged on Raven's bed as they talked. Her smile faded a little as she continued, "I just was thinking about…"

"Yes?" Raven asked. There was something in Starfire's eyes that wasn't normal, she had seen the confused look on the princess' face almost everyday when it came to earthly customs, but this was different, it was…deeper. She wondered, did this have anything to do with 'The Boy Wonder'. If it did, she thought she would die of boredom; new subjects were needed at the Tower if Starfire was going to talk about Robin for the seven-fifth time this week…on a Monday.

"About Red X." Starfire said with an almost resolved voice, "I was thinking about him and I was feeling guilty…"

"What do you mean?" Raven questioned suddenly very interested and alarmed. The fact that she wanted to talk about a criminal troubled Raven a little, especially one that had so much to do with the Titans shaky past.

"Red X… he saved us, even when he did not need to and he clearly stated he did not want or have any intention to… he was there for us, even though it was not his, how did he state it, his problem. It was not his fault that we were in danger…but… he helped us…he saved us… then, after he risked everything…after he risked getting caught… we treated him like any other criminal that would have left us to perish." Starfire looked at Raven, the person who she thought was the wisest. She looked to her for guidance but most importantly, for the answer to her question, "Why?"

Raven looked at her friend, she felt sorry for her. Her friend knew how life should be and she didn't understand why it wasn't like that. She knew that her kind, beautiful companion would never understand why people seemed to worship those with money and turn away from the begging poor. She would not understand why drunken men ran to her instead of away to safety. She would never understand why Robin was more protective of her than any of the other Titans, and apparently, she had no idea what hurt pride was either.

**And maybe it is better that way, **Raven pondered. **We needed her innocence more than we need Robin's leadership (not that we would tell Robin that). She is the glue that keeps us together. We made it without Robin; we would never make it without Starfire. **"I wish had answer, but that's not something I don't know. I'm sure Robin would be more than happy to answer your question though." Starfire nodded her head although Raven knew she didn't understand why Raven didn't tell her truth. She could not lie to Star, no matter how much she wanted to protect her. It was probably because Star always knew when she was lying. "Robin does not like to be upstaged, Starfire, and although I would never say it to his face, or even any other Titan for that matter, he was more ashamed by Red X's help than grateful." Raven said.

At this Starfire's face changed, it became solid, clear, and resolved. It was creased at the forehead and she seemed to be thinking about a plan that she knew she was going to have to come up with from the beginning. "Then there is something we must do."

"Starfire you're not thinking of…"

"On my planet it is a custom to lock the wrong-doers in what you called prison." Starfire said, she seemed to be justifying their actions to lock Red X up, but the next sentence blew that theory out of the water. "But if you owe a debt to someone in prison, the fact that they are a criminal does not matter. You owe them your respect and most importantly, your life." She looked at Raven with begging eyes, "If you truly believe that he saved us without expecting anything in return, please do not try and stop me from trying to make things right with my conscience."

Raven gave Starfire one of her little smirks, "Starfire, you know I can't stop you from doing anything."

"I will be back soon my friend," Starfire said turning to leave her slightly gothic friend. She turned back with a one last request, "Please be keeping cover for my leaving. I would not wish Robin to find out what I am doing." She felt Raven nod even though she had her back to her. "Thank you friend, I will be back soon with a cleaned of conscience."

"Be careful," Raven called after Starfire, even though it wasn't needed. **Starfire can take care of herself. **Raven thought as she meditated over her bed. **I hope….**

**X**

Starfire had been gone for a little under two hours and Raven began to get nervous. She tried to meditate but every time she began to float something around shattered or smashed or fell off the table. Soon she resigned from trying to calm herself and just paced in her room trying to not think about her friend. So, naturally, she began to think about Starfire.

**I do hope she is alright. I would never want anything bad to happen to Starfire. I admit that it took me a while to get use to her. At first I was jealous of the way Robin stared at her. I mean, I never saw why he liked her looks more than mine, but I soon became friends with her. After I found out about her childhood when we switched bodies, I almost felt sorry for her.** **I couldn't imagine having my family split because of a war. And she was always so cheerful; you never would have guessed the horrors that happened to her during the first ten years of her life. She has so much hope even though her whole childhood was an assortment of hopeless missions baring fruitless results. I really hope she is alright. **Next to her a glass vase broke and flowers and water exploded all over her room. **Damn. Okay Raven, you have to stop thinking about her. Get a book, read, do something, and before you know it Starfire will be back, safe and sound… **Then Raven heard the knock on the door.

"Hey Raven?" It was Robin. The girl jumped and a stack of books fell to the surprise of his voice. He rarely ever came to her room. Normally he was in the practice rooms or hanging out with… **oh…right.**

"Yes Robin?" Raven called, not daring to open the door and have Robin see her in this state.

"Have you seen Star? I was sure we were supposed to practice the Underboard Maneuver today but I haven't seen her since breakfast."

Raven sighed, half in relief and half in exasperation, he was looking for Star. "Yes. She came in here to talk to me about… stuff. Then she remembered that it was her turn to go to the store. If you're so worried about her I could contact her for you…" She heard The Boy Wonder shuffle his feet embarrassed.

"No, that's okay. I hope she remembers to get some milk…" He spaces off. Raven sighed again with a little more than half of exasperation. **If he loves he so much he should just tell her. Isn't it obvious to him that she adores him? **"Maybe I should go and check on her…"

"Robin, if you're worried about Starfire not being able to get a gallon of milk…" Raven said in her normal drawling tone, but Robin cut her off.

"No, I forgot to put Beast Boy's tofu bacon on the list. I think I'll just meet her there. No big deal." Raven heard Robin leave the door. Going to meet Star at the store. The store that she wasn't at.

"No Robin you can't!" Raven said, the door opened and Raven waved Robin to come in.

"Why not? What happened to your room? Raven, what are you not telling me?"

**X**

_So this is the first chapter of the story that has been in my head ever since I saw "x". Please review. Criticism is fine but no flames please. Thanks a bunch._

_Love Ya All!_

_Kathleen_


	2. Slightly Expected Encounters

Disclaimer- I don't the Titan Teens. If I did, Red X would have made another appearance by now, Starfire and Robin or Starfire and Red X would be together, and Beast Boy and Raven would be together too.

Chapter 2: Slightly Expected Encounters

Starfire landed tiredly on the dirty docks of Jump City's slums discouraged. She had been searching for almost two hours with no results and she began to realize that finding an elusive criminal with a larger than average amount of brains who didn't want to be found proved to be harder than Starfire had originally thought it would be. She always figured that he would just appear right in front of her as she searched the nearly deserted streets and alleys of the over populated city.

She sat down on the old, nearly collapsed dock to ponder the situation from a different point of view. She put her elbow on her crossed legs and tilted her orange head in order to think. _If I was a criminal, who I would never ever be, where would I go into hiding in order to not be found by anyone?_ She was about to give up, and go back to the Tower and Robin, but her conscience was fighting it. She was worried that she would not be able to sleep at night and her mind was ready to break down. Then a thought came to her and she stood up. She shot into the clear sky faster than Superman.

(That's possible you know, when you have something on your conscience that you need to clear.)

**X**

Speaking of clearing consciences, Red X was now staring out his half-cracked, yellow-tinted window from his bedroom thinking about Robin, the Boy Blunder, and his world famous crime-fighting career. X knew that the kid took it way too seriously (from recent first hand experience) but was wondering why he did. Could this be his way of making things simpler? Did the stupid fake line between good and evil make things simpler? Or at least about Knox anyway. **Is this Bird Brain's way of getting her voice out of his head?**

He wondered if the main reason that that idiot of a leader, Robin, was so hard on him was because the Titan's leader secretly had blamed him for what happened to his Knox. Instead of dealing with the painful blame, he put all the blame on the almost forgotten hero Red X, because it was easier for him. He put the blame on the other crime-fighter who also disappeared the night Knox left this world. He had blamed his other teammate that had left him that night. For the tragic end that met the once well-known crime fighter he blamed Red X so he would finally be able to sleep for the night. **Not that he has any right to sleep a single minute after what he had done!**

Red X had never thought of continuing his years of battling the so-called "bad guys" after Knox was murdered. After he saw that the line between good and evil wasn't so clear as it had seemed, when he saw there was a grey area, he never even thought of returning to his old life as a hypocritical protector of the law and "justice". He never considered the option of teaming up with the supposedly "good" heroes after that night. Chances are that Robin had not thought this through, he had always been the slow one, and he probably didn't see the gray area yet. He probably never even thought of the option Red had taken. But then, Robin didn't exactly have the same demons to deal with that he had had to wrestle with.

And of course the thought of the path he had chosen lead him to wondering. Soon he began to wonder if **HE** should have stayed a crime-fighting hero, even if some of the job was against his morals. If he was wrong to steal from the hard-working people of Jump City because of what happened to open his eyes. **Why wouldn't it be**, He said in an attempt to argue with himself, **an eye for an eye! Even the Bible, supposed "Book of Goodness" said so!** Although his slightly guilty and more than annoying conscience dared to entertain the thought that while the people of Jump City had taken an eye, he in return had decided to steal a leg from them, making it a little less fair than the Holy Bible allowed.

**Screw it!** He thought, turning away from the depressingly grimy window, his newly dyed sandy-blonde hair hung over his green-colored contacts in his eyes. **Screw it all! Why should I bother anyway? It's not like I have anything better to do, anything more to live for anyway at this point!** He rolled off his uncomfortable, cot-like bed and thumped on to the close rotting floor. Getting up and stomping out of the badly designed room like a two year old with a tantrum would, he realized his over-powering hunger. He was in dire need of some food. Comfort food. Unhealthy food. Now.

He marched into the corner of the biggest room of his apartment which held a pathetic excuse for a kitchen (to make up for its pathetic-ness the advertisement for the apartment had called it a "kitchenette" which literally means something along the lines of: "a crappy, small kitchen-like space that is normally in the corner of the largest room in a crappy apartment"). He savagely grabbed a bag of his favorite "Ruffles" sour-cream and onion potato chips off his ugly off-orange counter and fought the bag for its extremely valuable contents. He nearly ripped it in half, but received his salty, fattening prize anyway. He began shoveling the comfort food into his mouth and he for a moment pondered nothing but the wonderful taste of the food he had needed.

Suddenly and for reasons unknown to him, his thoughts turned to the alien, redheaded Titan again. He did not know why he bothered, **not like she would ever spend a single moment of her precious time with even thoughts about me anyway. Not with that hypocrite Bird-Brained Boy feeding her all that "righteous" right and wrong crap. Like he never…**His thoughts and scarffing was interrupted by a glimpse of a soaring blur of red hair outside of his partly shattered kitchenette window. Only one word came to his mind. **Shit.** He dropped the bag of oniony-goodess back onto the counter and a few chips fell on the unsafe, filthy orange instead of falling back safely in the clean green bag. Red X did not seem to notice the lost chips at that moment though. He was far too busy franticly running to his bedroom and searching in his messy, too-small closet for his outfit.

**X**

"Where did Starfire go, Raven?" Robin repeated for the third time. He was speaking in his steady yet impatient voice and at the same time solidly refusing to come into the Titan who is the daughter of demon's room. He stood his ground firmly right in the doorway into the darkly painted room. Raven was angered by this feeling that it somehow seemed as though he was proving that the finding of his favorite Titan was more important than the feelings of any of the others. This anger of course was not safe for anyone in the Tower and was going to need to be diverted quickly. And Raven knew exactly how.

"How would I know?" Raven said at her revenge and last resort answer, more than a little mad at Robin's coldness toward her. She felt that the need for revenge would slowly dissolve by making him worry over his precious Starfire was a prefect way. To put the seal on the envelope, she added, "She's your girlfriend." At this she raised her eyebrows and waited for the explosive result. Robin, being the predictable person he was, didn't let her down.

"**_SHE'S…. NOT…. MY…._**" The red-faced Robin started, having to pause after ever word because his rage (and his slight embarrassment) had become so great that merely breathing had become a challenge, not to mention yelling at the purple-haired member of his team. Smoke would have been coming out of his ears and nose if this had been a cartoon and any other member of the Titans would have begun to cower in complete terror as he screaming at her in rage. But the currently emotionally off balanced Raven, being the calm but slightly unwise person that she always was, interrupted him and his angry speech.

"Then stop acting like it!" She said back in a loud, slightly poisonous tone, showing she was more than less than happy about the behavior of Robin during their little encounter today. And with that her black-colored magic forced the door to slam in her leader's face. This action permanently ended the conversation was the cause that sent a fuming Robin to storm off to break the punching bag in the Titan training room for the seventh time this month. While Robin was mercilessly punching the poor, defenseless punching bag, Raven finally became calm enough to meditate. She had seemed to have transferred her emotions to her now vicious teammate for the moment and her worrying became less of an issue although Starfire was still on her mind as she floated. _What is she doing?_

**X**

Starfire landed more gracefully than one would think possible in the old, deserted streets of the four square blocks that had been proclaimed Jump City's "ghost town", her new adopted hometown. The thought that these boarded up and broken apartments and shops were once the center of the town, thriving and alive with many people, seemed impossible. _What horrible incident happened here to cause such an emptiness to occur? _It was rather odd. Jump City's mayor was notorious for tearing down everything and anything (including national landmarks and city parks) that wasn't making enough money. Why had theses four square blocks remanded untouched was beyond anyone. That is, anyone that wasn't in Jump City two years ago, when the horrible event happened.

"Lost, my little princess?" the more than familiar mechanical voice she had been searching for spoke. She turned around to face the masked criminal. Her hair went flying in the wind like the models Red X had watched in _America's Next Top Model _and it took him a few seconds to compose himself. He finally reminded himself that she was Titan and had to be careful. "Last time I checked, you didn't live in these parts and I know you didn't come for a social call." He then quickly bent into his normal fighting stance ready to strike his unexpected opponent if her beautiful emerald eyes, that were so much like Knox's, turned into the piercing, deadly lasers they so often did when he was around. He also avoided her eyes knowing they would cause him to once again and he would not be able to defend himself.

**These rules are not fair, she has those eyes and that hair and that body, and I don't have anything in my favor! **He frantically tried to figure out how he was going to get the upper hand, in the five second pause that settled over the two, both still sizing up the situation. Starfire was slightly taken aback by Red X's defense and had to gather she had to gather her thoughts on how to stop the Red X from attacking, of course she had never had had to deal with that, that had always been Robin's job, so she dealt with it the only way she knew how, naive and maybe a little annoying happiness that she prayed would spread and cause Red X to hold off his defense long enough to state her case and avoid fighting all together. (For telling her how to fight was also Robin's job and she would have no idea what attack to use.)

"Red X! Hello! Please do not attack me! I do not come to harm you! I have only come to discuss your saving me and the rest of the Titans when we were in the lab of the evil scientist!" Starfire was smiling and making it harder for Red X not to trust her. He moved from his defense stance into his more relaxed standing position, almost in a shocked and sort of embarrassed kind of way, but still slightly more relaxed. In this way he showed that he would listen to her words of their last encounter for the moment, without attacking. His voice echoed through the deserted streets. "What's there to talk about?"

At this statement Starfire's smile widen to its full extent, whether it was because of the normally cocky thief's embarrassment or the fact that she would finally have a chance to speak her mind to someone she was unsure. All the same, she became as relaxed as the thief had been, which was not much but enough to not have to worry about getting killed for the moment. She spoke to him as though he was Robin, fast and as clearly as she could, needing her conscience cleared as quick as possible.

"Red X, I respect you very much for saving us. On my planet, I would have absolved of all your crimes and still feel in your debt. You saved us and the city, and I was wondering if, maybe, you would be able to explain to me, why? Robin told me that those who break the law are bad and evil and care nothing for others. You, Red X, do care. Why are you not like the other criminals that Robin has described and I have fought?" At this, Red X smirked.

"As long as I am teaching you, let me tell you something princess, you still have a lot more to learn from this world we live in, and chances are, Robin won't be the one to teach you," He was completely relaxed now, sure that this was not a mission and Starfire was here because she was genuinely confused about why Robin as wrong about him. **She probably thought that I would have let her die, oh God, Robin, what in the hell did you teach her! **He smirked, she was taught not to trust him, there was no way someone so trained in the false belief that there was only good and evil would listen to a thief's advice. "I could show you and tell you, but I don't know, after all, I am just another villain! You might not be able to trust me…" At this a puzzled look came on the Tamerian's face as if she was trying to decipher her own thoughts and feelings.

"Red X, you are not "just another villain," as you stated, you have saved me and my friends, fighting with the leader of the team I am on. And I do not know why, but I do believe that I can trust anything you say to me. Red X, I believe that you are truly an honest person, although why you are a criminal is, how do you say, over my eyes as well." Red X looked into her eyes, searching for some falseness of what she had said. He could not find any.

"Well if that is the case, I have a story to tell you, princess, and probably not the kind you are used to." He turned his back and waved for her to follow. She did and they quickly became in step with each other. "We are going to one of my houses in the neighborhood. Oh, and I will tell you this, don't bother coming back with Robin and the others later, the building will be cleared out, can never be too careful when you are in my business."

"The business of crime?" She asked, showing, once again, how naïve and sheltered she was. Red X smirked at this. "No, princess, the business of revenge, but that is telling the story out of context, and I would hate to spoil the ending." He stopped in his tracks suddenly. "Do the other Titans know you are here?"

"I have told Raven of my search for you and she is to cover for me with the others." Starfire smiled at her smartness and ability to think ahead, but at this Red X just laughed and turned her body in the direction of the Tower. "Go home princess, your boyfriend Robin is probably ready to tear the town apart and I don't want to be found with you just yet. We will meet again; I'll come when the time is right. But you are going to need a little more time if you want to hear the story."

"But…" Starfire began, but Red X cut her off, "No buts princess, I promise, as long as you have patience, I will come soon enough, but for now you have to run to your little Robin Hood as you two go and save the day, then ride off into the sunset as happy as can be together." He approached her and whispered in her ear, "Go about as if everything is normal… I'll see you soon my princess!" And with that, he was gone.

"I will see you soon Red X, but Robin and I will not ride off into any sunset happy. We are just the friends and the teammates, Red X, I wish for you to know that," she shouted it to the empty streets, hoping he would hear, then flew back to the Tower she was faced toward so she would be able to face the now angry Robin which Red X had mentioned.

X

End of Chapter


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